Does the internet degrades its users's cognitive quality Essay

Does the internet degrades its users's cognitive quality - Essay Example This paper is supposed to be a research opinion paper, so you are right to change this into a more argumentative one. Please strengthen this paper if possible by adding strong arguments, providing great coherence of logic flow, or including thought-provoking ideas. Does The Internet Degrade Its User’s Cognitive Quality? The internet is extremely prevalent these days; it has transformed human life from a normal life to a digital life. There are no life segments, in which the influence of internet is negligible. Business, education, communication, healthcare, culture and politics are some areas in which internet brought huge changes. The entire world is now divided into real world and virtual world. The activities going on the virtual world are almost equal in magnitude with the activities going on in the real world. In short, internet has made plenty of changes in the physical world. The influence of internet is not limited to the physical world alone; even mental activities un dergo rapid changes. One of affected mental activities is people’s cognitive skills; cognitive skills are brain-based skills that include set of abilities that are part of human actions. It involves logic, attention, memory, and perception. The efficiency and convenience that the internet provides is utilized by people in order to make their life much easier. Comparing internet research to hours of turning book pages to find relevant information and noting them down, the latter seems like a laborious and time-consuming task. After all, the internet provides relevant information from thousands of sources altogether in just a matter of seconds. But without being realized, it serves as a double-edged sword where it overindulges our brain and ruins our cognitive ability. The internet has made our lives much easier, but along with that it has degraded our cognitive quality. Being a student in this tech savvy generation, I am completely aware of the role the internet plays in our l ives. In fact today’s youth cannot even imagine getting through schools and colleges without the internet. The internet helps to complete academic tasks more easily because we have easy access to every piece of information one can ever imagine; it is all just a click away. The internet serves as huge library where one has access to information from all corners of the world. Even though lack of good editorial committees has flooded the internet with wrong information, the convenience of using the net to seek something, continues to be a preferred choice over browsing through books and journals. With the realization that using the internet to search for information is pretty convenient, people are becoming overly dependent on it, and slowly, their reasoning and problem solving skills are dropping. The internet provides readymade answers to all problems; therefore a student or researcher does not feel the need to think much about solving a problem. On the other hand, generations in the past were forced to think deeply to analyze different dimensions of a problem before identifying proper solution for that. The easiness in solving problem with the help of internet causes mental idleness. According to a study conducted by Karin Slegers, a Cognitive Psychologist, older adults who rely on the internet lose their cognitive functions much faster than their counterparts

A Colorful Day at the Football Stadium Case Study

A Colorful Day at the Football Stadium - Case Study Example A college football game can be the most colorful event in anyone's memory. The colors filled the parking lot. There were cars of every imaginable color. Some were the typical red and gray. There were cars that were the colors of the teams, which were green and blue. Near the entrance there were two very important looking black cars. The parking lot was also filled with banners. There was a huge green banner that proclaimed its support for the visiting team. There were several blue banners that had the name of the home team printed on them. There was even a banner on the truck from the local television station that was red, white, and blue. Along one side of the parking lot was a row of very colorful vendors. There was an orange sign that said 'French Fries' on a yellow background. There was a huge red sign that advertised 'Coca-Cola'. A purple sign was used to attract buyers to a van selling sports memorabilia. Everywhere you looked in the parking lot you would see a different color.Inside the stadium, the fans were as colorful as the parking lot. In one se ction there were over 200 people that wore green sweatshirts, the color of the visiting team. They wore hats that were gold with the team insignia. Their pants, mostly jeans, were a rainbow of various colors. A diehard fan had painted himself the color of the home team. The only clothing he wore that wasn't blue and white were his red sneakers. Many fans had banners, which announced their favorite team.

Water Is A Limited Resource Environmental Sciences Essay

Water Is A Limited Resource Environmental Sciences Essay Water is a limited resource whose quantities and quality are declining for an ever increasing world population. In the future this scarce resource needs to be managed better and efficiently. Water is the main theme of my research because it is undoubtedly the most critical and vulnerable resource to humans and entire ecosystems. In order to understand the physical and biogeochemical processes that affect this resource, I have focused current research in water, agriculture and forest resources. The primary focus of my research is to improve our understanding of the hydrologic and terrestrial processes regulating the quality and quantity of water in watersheds, so better environmental policy and management strategies that protect water, soil and other natural resources can be developed. My research addresses both managed and natural systems, considers processes at small to large river watershed scale, and uses combined effort of field monitoring, modeling and application of results to real world problems. It is my view that only by integrating across scale and between disciplines we will ever be able to understand these interactions and their potential implications at different scales. Building on my expertise, past and current research experiences, I have three broad and somewhat overlapping research themes. They are: 1. Land use change and management impacts on water quality and quantity, 2. Impact of climate on hydrologic and terrestrial processes, and 3. Bridging basic research and modeling efforts for effective management and policy decisions. Impact of land use on water quality: Many of my research projects have characterized the relationships between land use management, patterns, and sources of runoff, sediment, and nutrients in the landscape and used this information to predict stream water quality/quantity. For example, in my doctoral dissertation research I assessed the impact of land use and management practices on water quality/quantity for a drinking water supplying watershed and lake. To do this I combined stream monitoring, and distributed watershed modeling. My study site included both agricultural areas that have best management practices already implemented and forested areas with minimal human impacts. Assessment of the impacts of BMPs on water quality is challenging because implementation of whole-farm management programs has been on-going in the watershed; farms where BMPs had not been implemented were not available for monitoring in the current study. Consequently, the classic paired watershed approach in volving comparison of treated vs. control subwatersheds was not possible. Minimal divergence of water quality between watersheds dominated by forest land use and those dominated by agricultural land use provided indirect evidence of agricultural BMP effectiveness. Individual cell contributions to total yields of water, sediment and nutrients at the outlet were calculated, facilitating identification of specific cells contributing disproportionately to non-point source pollutant inputs. Effectively, those are the areas where management intervention may provide the greatest impacts on maintenance and improvement of water quality. This type of comprehensive watershed scale research not only allows us to quantify the effects of management practices on surface water quality, which are to be significant, but gives us clearer insight into controlling processes and their distribution in a watershed. I recently used a similar modeling study approach to quantify snowpack distribution in New York City (NYC) water supply watershed, as snow is an important component of the water resources of New York State and the watersheds and reservoirs of NYC water supply (Pradhanang et al, 2011, Hydrological Processes). I will continue to expand this type of research to larger systems by incorporating geospatial information and remote sensing into both the field and modeling components of my research. My research results have shown that when studying at the large scale response, it is important to consider small areas of a landscape or spatially distinct zones. One challenge that will be critical in future work will be determining how to effectively monitor and model small scale processes, particularly with respect to biogeochemical processes, while also applying small scale processes to larger systems. Impact of climate on hydrologic and terrestrial processes: My ongoing research in this area focuses largely on determining relationships among biogeochemical processes, hydrology, and the influence of climate in both the US and Nepal. Since 2009 I have been involved with researchers from New York City Dept. of Environmental Protection tasked with assessing effectiveness of land and watershed management practices to ensure abundant, clean water in the New York City Watersheds. In addition to land use impacts on water quality and quantity, another major concern in the watershed is the influence of climate change on terrestrial biogeochemistry, water quality, and water quantity. One of my roles has been to develop and test basin scale hydrologic models designed to capture the variable source area (VSA) hydrology that dominates the region, and that will provide accurate estimates of both water quality and quantity. As part of this effort I have updated, modified, and applied model that i s currently being used, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) which were not originally designed to capture the complexity inherent in saturation excess runoff process. I used streamflow predictions from SWAT-WB (modified version) to assess effects of climate change and potential changes in hydrologic indicators (Pradhanang et al., JAWRA in revision). Currently, I am working towards simulating nutrients in agriculture dominated watershed. Rising atmospheric CO2 concentration, higher temperatures, changes in precipitation pattern, duration and frequency will have significant effects on vegetation and crop growth affecting food security. I have applied watershed and ecosystem model in order to effectively understand potential effects. I have recently worked with a graduate student at City College of New York to couple watershed models distributed snow model and also with radar and other remote-sensing techniques. My future research in this area will build and expand on identifying and quantifying hydrologic processes controlling biogeochemical fluxes in the landscape, especially those most relevant to anticipated environmental changes associated with climate change. I also plan on expanding my work in places like Nepal where the potential impact of global climate change on soil and water resources could be devastating and where resources for solving the resulting problems are least available. Of particular concern is resultant impact on agricultural productivity due to changes in hydrology, either climate driven or as a result of manipulations to hydrology (e.g., irrigation), or soil quality. Thus, a better understanding of the hydrological and biogeochemical systems in these areas and their linkages to climate are critical to improving the quality of life around the globe. 3. Bridging basic research and modeling to management and policy: Work that interfaces directly with planners, managers, land owners, and policy makers is some of the most rewarding of my (short) career. For instance, results from Ph.D. research are currently being considered in New York to identify source areas and effectively apply management plans in identified sources. My on-going research in New York is a good example in which I have worked directly with New York City Dept. of Environmental Protection scientists and managers to develop and assess water quality protection strategies for the New York City water supply. I am also involved with USAID as well as federal, regional, and local community leaders in a project entitled à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“adaptation of livestock smallholders to climate change in Nepalà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ , a project assessing the historic, current, and future of livestock resources in the Gandaki River Basin (GRB), Nepal. This project is truly interdisciplinary, bri dging the fields of hydrology, engineering, agronomy, soils, economics, social science, and climatology as well as watershed stakeholders and government officials in a dynamic and rapidly changing region of the world. Nepal holds vast potential (both beneficial and dire) to influence global issues such as human induced climate change, economics, and population pressure. I find it exciting to work on a project with potential global impact. My role involves developing models of hydrology and crop growth to determine potential effect of climate change on streamflow and crop yield in GRB that can have direct impact on livestock water management and feed and fodder availability. The model integrates our current knowledge of spatial and biogeochemical processes and a large amount of remotely sensed information (TRMM derived rainfall, ensemble forecasts, Landsat imagery, etc). In fact, remote sensing platforms are essential for large scale modeling and analysis of climate and terrestrial s ystems, especially for parts of the world with little reliable ground monitoring. The implications of this project are far reaching and will inform governments and watershed stakeholders on the consequence of factors both within and beyond their control. Moving forward, I would like to keep these types of linkages between my research and environmental managers.

Sophocles :: essays research papers

The Way of Greek Play Wrights   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Greek Play Wright, Sophocles, wrote both the Antigone and Oedipus the King. Sophocles wrote Antigone around 441 B.C. and followed with the writings of Oedipus the King around 425 B.C. In Antigone King Creon decides that Polynices the traitor is to be buried, but his sister Antigone dislikes the order. She is caught, and sentenced by Creon to be buried alive-even though she is betrothed to his son Haemon. After the blind prophet Tiresias proves that the gods are on Antigone’s side, Creon changes his mind but too late. He goes first to bury Polynices, but Antigone had already hanged herself. When Creon arrives at the tomb, Haemon attacks him and then kills himself. When the news of their death is reported, Creon’s wife Eurydice takes her own life. Creon is left all alone at the end of the play. In Oedipus the King it was said that the king and queen of Thebes would give birth to a child who would grow up to kill his father and marry his mother. His parents feared this, so they nailed their son’s feet together and left him stranded on a mountainside. He was founded by a wondering shepherd and taken to the town of Corinth. He was then adopted and raised as the prince in the royal household. After he grew older he heard about the prophecy. He left Corinth to wander around Greece. Along the way he met a group of travelers, killed an old man, his real father. Later he arrived in Thebes and met the Sphinx, a monster who guarded the gates of the city. He answered the riddle correctly and was named King of Thebes. He was then married to a woman named Jocasta, his real mother.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Why did men play the role of women in early Greek playwrights? Once a woman was married her husband had complete control of her. He controlled all property that she may have inherited. She had no rights to wander about the town, without a sufficient reason. Any respectable women would not be seen in public. They contained no political rights and were run by men at every stage of their lives. Since men spent so much time away, women dominated Greek households. The wife was in charge of raising the children and making the clothes for the family. The only appropriate time for a woman to leave her house was to visit a female neighbor.

Aung San Suu Ki

AUNG SAN SUU KI ABOUT Aung San Suu Kyi is a  Burmese  opposition  politician and  chairperson  of the  National League for Democracy  (NLD) in Burma. In the  1990 general election, the NLD won 59% of the national votes and 81% (392 of 485) of the seats in Parliament. She had, however, already been detained under  house arrest  before the elections. She remained under house arrest in Burma for almost 15 of the 21 years from 20 July 1989 until her most recent release on 13  November 2010, becoming one of the world's most prominent political prisoners.HOW SHE BACAME THE PERSON SHE IS Her father,  Aung San, founded the  modern Burmese army  and negotiated Burma's independence from the  British Empire  in 1947; he was  assassinated by his rivals  in the same year. She grew up with her mother,  Khin Kyi, and two brothers, Aung San Lin and  Aung San Oo, in Rangoon. Aung San Lin died at age eight, when he drowned in an ornamental lake on the grounds of the house. Her elder brother immigrated to San Diego, California, becoming a  United States citizen.After Aung San Lin's death, the family moved to a house by  Inya Lake  where Suu Kyi met people of very different backgrounds, political views and religions. Suu Kyi's mother,  Khin Kyi, gained prominence as a political figure in the newly formed Burmese government. She was appointed Burmese ambassador to  India  and  Nepal  in 1960, and Aung San Suu Kyi followed her there, she studied in the Convent of Jesus and Mary School, New Delhi and graduated from  Lady Shri Ram College  in New Delhi with a degree in politics in 1964.Suu Kyi continued her education at  St Hugh's College, Oxford, obtaining a B. A. degree in  Philosophy, Politics and Economics  in 1969. She worked at the  United Nations  for three years, primarily on budget matters. She earned a PhD at the  School of Oriental and African Studies,  University of London  in 1985. She was elected as an Honorary Fellow in 1990. For two years she was a Fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies (IIAS) in  Shimla, India. She also worked for the  government of the Union of Burma.Coincident with Aung San Suu Kyi's return to Burma in 1988, the long-time military leader of Burma and head of the  ruling party, General  Ne Win, stepped down. Mass demonstrations for democracy followed that event on 8 August 1988 ,which were violently suppressed in what came to be known as the  8888 Uprising. On 26 August 1988, she addressed half a million people at a mass rally in front of the Shwedagon Pagoda  in the capital, calling for a democratic government.However in September, a  new military junta  took power. Influenced by both  Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy of  non-violence and more specifically by Buddhist concepts, Aung San Suu Kyi entered politics to work for  democratization, helped found the  National League for Democracy  on 27 September 1988, but was p ut under  house arrest  on 20 July 1989. She was offered freedom if she left the country, she refused. One of her most famous speeches was â€Å"Freedom From Fear†, which began: â€Å"It is not power that corrupts, but fear.Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it. † She campaigned again and again to instill her countries faith in democracy and impose human right . She chose nonviolent paths to reach this goal that Burma too be a democratic country. HOUSE ARREST Aung San Suu Kyi has been placed under  house arrest  for 15 of the past 21 years, on different occasions, since she began her political career, during which time she was prevented from meeting her party supporters and international visitors.PRIZES Suu Kyi received the  Rafto Prize  and the  Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought  in 1990 and the  Nobel Peace Prize  in 1991. In 1992 she was awarded the  Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding  by the government of India and the  International Simon Bolivar Prize  from the government of Venezuela. In 2007, the Government of Canada made her an honorary citizen of that country; at the time, she was one of only four people ever to receive the honor. In 2011, she was awarded the  Wallenberg Medal.

Rip Van Winkle

The characters in Rip Van Winkle and Young Goodman Brown written respectively by Washington Irving and Nathaniel Hawthorne leave their individual communities and return with radically different perspectives (of their current lives) that change their attitudes and way of life in the remaining of their lives. Both stories are set in early American villages, Young Goodman Brown takes place in the 1700’s New England puritan settlement while Rip Van Winkle takes place over 100 years later in an English colony in eastern New York. Both authors were very clever to use different historical context to illustrate cultural aspects of early American societies in order to make the reader aware of how big of a role gender, politics and religion where to the societies. Strange/Supernatural forces challenge and would radically change both characters when they depart from their individual village and head into the forest/mountains and on their perspective, individual journeys. The external scenery that both of the authors provide, has both liberal and figurative meanings that simulate Rip Van Winkle’s and Young Goodman Brown’s experiences. Both characters go into dream-like states and are forced to face problems that would eventually expose their true identities. This shorts stories conclude with transformations in the two characters internal perspectives and external perceptions towards their respective communities and time periods. Young Goodman Brown and Rip Van Winkle illustrate their early American life in a puritan village and New English colony. Overall, one of the most important details in the stories are the relationships these characters have with their wives. In the beginning of Young Goodman Brown, Brown adores his newly wed wife named Faith who he ironically refers to as a blessed angel on Earth. Through out his journey Brown puts his wife in a pedestal of purity despite learning the truth about his brother. Brown’s attitudes starts to change toward Faith during a dream that convinces him of her spiritual demise that is been represented by the symbolic pink ribbons that are falling of the sky. Faiths pink ribbons are a symbol of her virtue, innocence, and purity. The image of the pink ribbons falling from the sky marks the start of the radical transformation of Brown’s feelings towards his wife Faith and his former self towards his society. When Brown returns from his night (dream) in the forest his reaction towards Faith is as if she was a repulsive stranger and is no longer the loving wife he held with high respect and in a pedestal. The story ends with Faith and Brown’s children following Brown’s funeral procession. In the beginning of Rip Van Winkle, Rip is portrayed as lazy husband who would do anything for others except his own husbandly duties. Rip Van Winkle’s wife, Dame Winkle, who is nothing like her husband goes around doing her wifely duties, as a wife and mother, regardless whether her husband Rip meets her needs. Despite been such a likeable person to his friends and neighbors, Winkle makes his wife’s life complicated. Dame Van Winkle is the typical wife that takes care of the obligations she has at home while Rip refuses to be productive around the house. The story emphasis’s how relentlessly Dame nags Rip. However if Rip had assumed his share of household responsibilities perhaps Rip might not have felt an impact. Dame’s life is further complicated by the absence of 20 years of her husband. When Rip returns Dame is dead and he is taken in by his daughter who replaces the maternal role that his wife (dame) had previously occupied. The external scene plays an important role in Rip’s life. The mountains where he goes to hunt are referred to as magical and fairy place, foreshadowing Winkles encounter with the supernatural. In the mountain Rip decides to stay the night ironically this is just where he sleeps for the next 20 years. The branches and the vines that are in Rip’s way on his trip back home are a metaphor for the difficulties that he will soon face back home. The same can be said of the shadowy sinister forest that Brown encounters, this is an indication of the man he will soon become. The dark cloud that Brown sees in the sky is can be a symbol of the dark magic that lies in the center of the forest. Supernatural elements and beings that display mischief in both stories have an important role in both Young and Rip lives. The person Brown meets in the forest displays weird characteristics. This individual is capable of running at abnormal speeds, turns a staff into a snake, and creates a walking stick that allows Brown to transport himself into the center of the forest . This person is later identified to be the devil, is able to change his appearance at will and appears similar to Young Goodman’s grandfather. Brown also observes members of his church, who are witches and wizards, attend a diabolical ceremony. Brown then observes the ceremony being performed by his fellow members. Unlike the evil that Brown experiences, the supernatural things that Rip experiences are nothing of evilness but more of people who enjoy their respective time. While Rip goes up to the mountains with his beloved dog to avoid his wife and hunts for squirrels, he is approached by a group of people who are in a gathering in the mountains, he is invited to join them and he steals a drink which evidently leads to his journey. Brown and Rips life’s are completely altered by the encounters of these supernatural beings and elements during their journeys. Both characters struggle with their identities after becoming lost in their dreams where they were unable to identify reality. Rip discovers that his existence has been erased from the villagers minds after 20 years of absence. Both his nagging wife, Dame, and his loving dog which where his daily aspects of his life are now dead. The new ideas and their patriotism of the villagers are different to Rip’s due to the fact that he had slept through one of America’s greatest moments the American Revolution. Rip goes into a deep confusion when he sees his son, who is now a grown man and who is the precise counterpart of himself, just as he went up the mountain. The appearance of his son makes Rip comprehend the gravity of the situation he is now in. Goodman Brown also experiences something similarly when he is trapped in his world were he discovers the unchristian secrets of his town and even worse his wife’s secrets. He also has confusion on who he is, even the devil with who he meets physically resembles him. Brown is also confused when the devil tells him that he had also had several meetings with Brown’s grandfather and father. Technically, Brown is only away one night but to him it seems along time, at the same time Rip’s 20 years of absence is also one night. Both, Hawthorne and Irving, illustrate American civilization and culture. Natives Americans are represented as evil beings hiding in the forest . While Goodman Brown is walking to the forest he would turn around to see if they weren’t hiding in the trees. When Rip returns back to his village, the villagers tell him that there where rumors that he was carried away by the Indians. References to native Americans demonstrate the mentality of early American towards civilizations that lived ere long before their colonization. In Rip Van Winkle, Irving provides examples of the change of attitudes of colonist before and after the revolutionary war. When Rip wakes up from his 20 year nap he is confronted by the villagers and they ask him what is his â€Å"role†, he makes the mistake of saying he is loyal to England and therefore, he is ac cused of being a spy . Their accusations illustrate the beginning of individual freedom that they now had after winning their Revolution. Hawthorne uses Goodman Brown to proof that the puritans in the village were not really pure. He demonstrates how the puritans would violently pursue people who had other belief systems. For instance, the devil tells Goodman how his past relatives had lashed Quaker women and set fire to an Indian village. To further demonstrate this Brown was giving the ability to witness first hand every sin that his puritan brothers had committed. By the end of both stories the inner self of the characters had undergone a major transformation. The previous role that they had in their earlier communities and lives had also transformed. Brown was aware of the sins of his neighbor, therefore his beliefs about his community had radically changed . His relationship with his wife is no longer a union of love but more of an obligation that he had. The things that the devil had shown Brown had impend him from moving on. After living his life as a cynical person, he dies. Au contraire Rip had become a living legend in his community, somewhat of a war hero, he would always retell his story to other town’s folks in the cavern . He is now free of his wife, who had always been an intrusion in his life. Despite feeling belligerent at the villagers new political stance Rip was now glad he was happy, a free man. Rip’s attitude remains the same but 20 years later he is old enough that a man his age can be taken lightly. Rip’s new perception has change the image of himself, he is now a free husband/hero in the village instead of a lazy husband. As for Brown, the perception he gained, made him more of an open minded person to the sins of the villagers in his community. After his journey through the forest is over he has to live with the burden of the knowledge that not all puritans where pure. Rip Van Winkle The characters in Rip Van Winkle and Young Goodman Brown written respectively by Washington Irving and Nathaniel Hawthorne leave their individual communities and return with radically different perspectives (of their current lives) that change their attitudes and way of life in the remaining of their lives. Both stories are set in early American villages, Young Goodman Brown takes place in the 1700’s New England puritan settlement while Rip Van Winkle takes place over 100 years later in an English colony in eastern New York. Both authors were very clever to use different historical context to illustrate cultural aspects of early American societies in order to make the reader aware of how big of a role gender, politics and religion where to the societies. Strange/Supernatural forces challenge and would radically change both characters when they depart from their individual village and head into the forest/mountains and on their perspective, individual journeys. The external scenery that both of the authors provide, has both liberal and figurative meanings that simulate Rip Van Winkle’s and Young Goodman Brown’s experiences. Both characters go into dream-like states and are forced to face problems that would eventually expose their true identities. This shorts stories conclude with transformations in the two characters internal perspectives and external perceptions towards their respective communities and time periods. Young Goodman Brown and Rip Van Winkle illustrate their early American life in a puritan village and New English colony. Overall, one of the most important details in the stories are the relationships these characters have with their wives. In the beginning of Young Goodman Brown, Brown adores his newly wed wife named Faith who he ironically refers to as a blessed angel on Earth. Through out his journey Brown puts his wife in a pedestal of purity despite learning the truth about his brother. Brown’s attitudes starts to change toward Faith during a dream that convinces him of her spiritual demise that is been represented by the symbolic pink ribbons that are falling of the sky. Faiths pink ribbons are a symbol of her virtue, innocence, and purity. The image of the pink ribbons falling from the sky marks the start of the radical transformation of Brown’s feelings towards his wife Faith and his former self towards his society. When Brown returns from his night (dream) in the forest his reaction towards Faith is as if she was a repulsive stranger and is no longer the loving wife he held with high respect and in a pedestal. The story ends with Faith and Brown’s children following Brown’s funeral procession. In the beginning of Rip Van Winkle, Rip is portrayed as lazy husband who would do anything for others except his own husbandly duties. Rip Van Winkle’s wife, Dame Winkle, who is nothing like her husband goes around doing her wifely duties, as a wife and mother, regardless whether her husband Rip meets her needs. Despite been such a likeable person to his friends and neighbors, Winkle makes his wife’s life complicated. Dame Van Winkle is the typical wife that takes care of the obligations she has at home while Rip refuses to be productive around the house. The story emphasis’s how relentlessly Dame nags Rip. However if Rip had assumed his share of household responsibilities perhaps Rip might not have felt an impact. Dame’s life is further complicated by the absence of 20 years of her husband. When Rip returns Dame is dead and he is taken in by his daughter who replaces the maternal role that his wife (dame) had previously occupied. The external scene plays an important role in Rip’s life. The mountains where he goes to hunt are referred to as magical and fairy place, foreshadowing Winkles encounter with the supernatural. In the mountain Rip decides to stay the night ironically this is just where he sleeps for the next 20 years. The branches and the vines that are in Rip’s way on his trip back home are a metaphor for the difficulties that he will soon face back home. The same can be said of the shadowy sinister forest that Brown encounters, this is an indication of the man he will soon become. The dark cloud that Brown sees in the sky is can be a symbol of the dark magic that lies in the center of the forest. Supernatural elements and beings that display mischief in both stories have an important role in both Young and Rip lives. The person Brown meets in the forest displays weird characteristics. This individual is capable of running at abnormal speeds, turns a staff into a snake, and creates a walking stick that allows Brown to transport himself into the center of the forest . This person is later identified to be the devil, is able to change his appearance at will and appears similar to Young Goodman’s grandfather. Brown also observes members of his church, who are witches and wizards, attend a diabolical ceremony. Brown then observes the ceremony being performed by his fellow members. Unlike the evil that Brown experiences, the supernatural things that Rip experiences are nothing of evilness but more of people who enjoy their respective time. While Rip goes up to the mountains with his beloved dog to avoid his wife and hunts for squirrels, he is approached by a group of people who are in a gathering in the mountains, he is invited to join them and he steals a drink which evidently leads to his journey. Brown and Rips life’s are completely altered by the encounters of these supernatural beings and elements during their journeys. Both characters struggle with their identities after becoming lost in their dreams where they were unable to identify reality. Rip discovers that his existence has been erased from the villagers minds after 20 years of absence. Both his nagging wife, Dame, and his loving dog which where his daily aspects of his life are now dead. The new ideas and their patriotism of the villagers are different to Rip’s due to the fact that he had slept through one of America’s greatest moments the American Revolution. Rip goes into a deep confusion when he sees his son, who is now a grown man and who is the precise counterpart of himself, just as he went up the mountain. The appearance of his son makes Rip comprehend the gravity of the situation he is now in. Goodman Brown also experiences something similarly when he is trapped in his world were he discovers the unchristian secrets of his town and even worse his wife’s secrets. He also has confusion on who he is, even the devil with who he meets physically resembles him. Brown is also confused when the devil tells him that he had also had several meetings with Brown’s grandfather and father. Technically, Brown is only away one night but to him it seems along time, at the same time Rip’s 20 years of absence is also one night. Both, Hawthorne and Irving, illustrate American civilization and culture. Natives Americans are represented as evil beings hiding in the forest . While Goodman Brown is walking to the forest he would turn around to see if they weren’t hiding in the trees. When Rip returns back to his village, the villagers tell him that there where rumors that he was carried away by the Indians. References to native Americans demonstrate the mentality of early American towards civilizations that lived ere long before their colonization. In Rip Van Winkle, Irving provides examples of the change of attitudes of colonist before and after the revolutionary war. When Rip wakes up from his 20 year nap he is confronted by the villagers and they ask him what is his â€Å"role†, he makes the mistake of saying he is loyal to England and therefore, he is ac cused of being a spy . Their accusations illustrate the beginning of individual freedom that they now had after winning their Revolution. Hawthorne uses Goodman Brown to proof that the puritans in the village were not really pure. He demonstrates how the puritans would violently pursue people who had other belief systems. For instance, the devil tells Goodman how his past relatives had lashed Quaker women and set fire to an Indian village. To further demonstrate this Brown was giving the ability to witness first hand every sin that his puritan brothers had committed. By the end of both stories the inner self of the characters had undergone a major transformation. The previous role that they had in their earlier communities and lives had also transformed. Brown was aware of the sins of his neighbor, therefore his beliefs about his community had radically changed . His relationship with his wife is no longer a union of love but more of an obligation that he had. The things that the devil had shown Brown had impend him from moving on. After living his life as a cynical person, he dies. Au contraire Rip had become a living legend in his community, somewhat of a war hero, he would always retell his story to other town’s folks in the cavern . He is now free of his wife, who had always been an intrusion in his life. Despite feeling belligerent at the villagers new political stance Rip was now glad he was happy, a free man. Rip’s attitude remains the same but 20 years later he is old enough that a man his age can be taken lightly. Rip’s new perception has change the image of himself, he is now a free husband/hero in the village instead of a lazy husband. As for Brown, the perception he gained, made him more of an open minded person to the sins of the villagers in his community. After his journey through the forest is over he has to live with the burden of the knowledge that not all puritans where pure.